Page 4 of An Honored Vow

I shoveled the remaining contents of the meat pouch into my mouth and swallowed. I grabbed the horn of my saddle, ready to mount, but Gwyn grabbed my arm. Her finger was pressed against her lips, and she pointed up to a gap in the foliage where we could see the lightening sky.

Fyrel and Gerarda grabbed their bows and nocked an arrow in perfect unison. They tracked the target as it flew but did not shoot.

Three beautiful birds soared above the tree line. Their feathers were a deep red near their body and burned bright gold at the ends. They had flown over the Pool of Elvera mere hours after the seal had broken and the survivors of Damien’s troops had fled.

Laethvaraq. That’s what Feron had called them.

He said they were an omen of great prosperity and always flew in a flock of three. Before Aemon had come to Elverath, thelaethvaraqwere seen as a symbol of luck. Then the king had them killed and they were forgotten by all except those old enough to have seen them for themselves.

But that was not what Gerarda and Fyrel had their arrows pointed at. Soaring high above the birds was a small black shadow. It made no sound at all. The only warning was the sudden silence of the wood.

It lingered in the air and, for a moment, I thought it wouldn’t strike.

But then it dove.

The small shadow grew in size, almost as large as my eagle form. Thelaethvaraqturned their long necks just in time to see the owl transform into a horrifying beast. Its head slithered from its body like a snake, growing until it was large enough to swallow the lucky birds whole.

We watched in silent horror as its tongue wrapped around the neck of the middle bird. The resoundingsnapechoed through the forest as the owl swallowed the beautiful creature in a single gulp.

Then as quickly as it had transformed, its head shrunk to its original size, and it looked like a normal owl once more.

Gerarda lowered her bow.

“No wonder Syrra hates them,” I said under my breath.

“The first shapeshifters.” Elaran took a sip from her waterskin. “Many of the Fae who had the gift would take an owl’s form.”

Like Riven’s mother.

I mounted my horse and pushed all thoughts of Riven and his shapeshifting from my mind.

Gwyn’s face was solemn. “Feron told me that thelaethvaraqare born as three. If one dies, two more deaths will swiftly follow.”

My chest tightened. I hoped that wasn’t an omen too.

“It’s amazing,” Fyrel said, her arrow still pointed at the sky. “Imagine being able to take whatever form you like.”

She turned to me with wide, pondering eyes.

I huffed a laugh. “No shapeshifter has ever known that power. We have one other form, and that is more than enough.”

I disappeared into a flash of light and soared across the path, whipping Fyrel’s braid with my wing. I perched on my saddle and transformed back to my Fae form with a grin. Fyrel clapped her hands, and Gerarda hit my leg with her shoulder before mounting her own horse.

“Show-off.”

CHAPTERTWO

IREFUSED TO LOOK AT THE GROUNDwhere Maerhal had died. Everyone else was focused on readying their blades as we waited for the second sun to fully set. We had spent the day patrolling the King’s Road, keeping our ears to the ground for any useful tidbits that would let us know what to expect in Silstra.

The city still smelled of smoke from the fires Damien had set. My body turned to stone, too heavy for my legs to carry, but I stood anyway. Gerarda knew that Maerhal had died in Silstra, and I was certain she told Elaran, but I never told anyone the details.

I never told her that the woman I swore to protect died within the portal’s boundary. That only a few weeks earlier, I had come to this city with hope that we could still best Damien and instead left an empty shell. Part of me wished that I had died that day when I opened the seal, that Riven had never helped me, and that I didn’t still carry the weight of the war on my shoulders.

“I can’t believe that used to be a dam,” Gwyn whispered in awe as she stared up at the towering cliff’s edge and the thrashing waterfall that now fed the mouth of the Three Sisters below.

Silstra.

Fyrel turned to me. “A few explosions took down a structure that high?”

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